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Increasing Stem Competence In Urban, High Poverty Elementary School Populations, Sueanne Mckinney, Cynthia Tomovic, Melva Grant, Kaavonia Hinton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Enhancing STEM competence (e.g., interests, knowledge, skills, and dispositions) among urban, high poverty, elementary school populations in the United States (U.S.) is and remains a growing national concern, especially since Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competence is and will continue to be a necessary requisite for gainful employment in the future, according to workforce development experts. In an attempt to address this gap, many urban elementary schools have begun to offer STEM-related programs to increase STEM learning at an early age. STEM competence (interest, knowledge, skills, and dispositions), however, remains low. This paper results in a matrix used to …